Hillsboro Indians basketball coach Bruce Miles is in high spirits about his basketball team this year after a great offseason according to the coach. Coach Miles is coming into his second season as the head coach after being the assistant before, and says that the second year has been a lot easier.

“The great thing about going into year two is that the kids know me and know what to expect,” Miles said. “We’re not doing a lot different than we were before I took over, but I do a few things different that the kids have really embraced and not having to install all those new things we did last year again is nice. I’m able to go right into it and they know where we’re at.”

D.J Brown will be player that the team will rely on this season after spending the last two years as a role-playing player and rebound grabber.

“D.J. had a really great summer,” said Miles. “We’re going to lean on him a good bit this year. The past few years he’s been the role player and this year he’s being thrust into the spotlight and is going to be ‘the guy’. I’m interested to see how he handles that. He’s been doing a great job so far this season being a leader.

“Our true big man, Phillip Mycroft really dedicated himself to the weight room in the offseason and has been improving his outside game. We know what he brings us to the post, but he’s really expanded his game out to the three-point line.”

After graduating the whole starting five except for D.J. Brown, coach Miles says this year has been all about finding themselves as a team and finding the guys who fit.

“We’re trying to find ourselves right now; defining roles and trying to find out where everyone fits into this thing,” said Miles. “Our motto each night is going to be to outwork our opponent, because we don’t have the most overwhelming athletic lineup. Our biggest guy is 6’3”, so we’re going to have to outwork teams on the defensive end, rebounding and limit our turnovers.

“We lost four starters last year so we’re basically replacing everyone except D.J.. It’s been tough just trying to find the guys that fit. I told these guys at the beginning of the season that we know what we’re going to get out of the senior who has been here for three years. I’m trying to get four more guys so that we can put the best five guys out there each and every night. We’ve been mixing and matching all preseason and I think we’re pretty close to the five we’re going to open with when we play Goshen.”

Coach Miles also says that the league is going to tough and that his team will need to be ready to play each and every night.

“Our league is extremely tough with Wilmington, Chillicothe, Miami Trace and Courthouse,” said Miles. “Each night we go out in our league is going to be a tough night. There won’t be any nights off. Our non-league schedule is going to be tough as well.”

Coach Miles thinks the one thing that his team will need to improve on over last year will be their offense, but that he has the shooters to help with that.

“We need to improve offensively compared to last year,” Miles said. “I think defensively, we went out and competed each night and it kept us in a lot of games. We need to be able to score the basketball better. We also have to have guys come off the bench and give us what we need whether it be a bucket or something on defense.

“I am really excited about our shooting ability from the perimeter. Our guys in the preseason have shot it extremely well. I think, compared to last year, we’re going to shoot the ball much better and that’s going to be extremely helpful in the season.”

The Hillsboro boys will kick off their season on the road Saturday, November 28 as they travel to Goshen.

Reach Robert Stegbauer at 937-393-3456 ext. 1679 or on Twitter @RStegbauer.